Experts: Newsday’s pay-for-play model will fail

Eighteen months after the New York Times gave up on charging for online content, Newsday’s parent company is about to give the paid content model a shot.

And area media analysts said Cablevision’s timing couldn’t be worse.

“The economy is very, very bad,” said Kevin B. Kamen, the president of Baldwin-based Kamen & Co. Group Services. “People are not in the mood to pay extra for anything. They are out of work. They don’t have the money.”

Tom Rutledge, chief operating officer for Cablevision, told analysts on a conference call Thursday that the company planned to end the distribution of free content.

“Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed,” Rutledge said.

Cablevision remains one of the few media outlets to lock down news coverage. Its News12.com Web site is only available to subscribers and Cablevision considers News 12 to be the key to stopping Verizon, which is aggressively trying to steal cable customers. Using that model, it’s conceivable that current Cablevision subscribers will be given free access to the Newsday site.

Cablevision has about 86 percent of the Nassau County cable market and 81 percent of the cable market in Suffolk County.

A Newsday.com lockdown should come as no surprise. At a Press Club of Long Island event earlier this month, Publisher Tim Knight said his publication was considering the pay model, adding that giving away content for free is a “death spiral.”

“I probably make more money on the Web than anyone else in this room, and I’m not afraid to roll the dice,” Knight said, when asked about free content. “I think about what’s the right kind of model for us. I know that there’s significant demand for the news that we create and produce based on my subscription retention, my subscription sales, and even to a lesser extent my single copy sales.”

But Jaci Clement, executive director of the Fair Media Council, said Newsday’s content is not worth paying for.

“They’re not performing enough original content to be valuable,” Clement said. “They have the police blotter, Associated Press copy and a lot of syndicated copy. That’s not enough to be considered a good buy.”

Clement also said many residents can’t afford another charge.

“Then you’ve set up a system of haves and have-nots,” Clement said.
But Knight said Newsday isn’t the only newspaper considering an online charge. He said
if publications fail to make money online, wealthy people with an agenda would control most papers.

Kamen, however, said the pay-to-play model would not help Cablevision make money.

“They’re not going to have more readers and that, in turn, will mean they won’t make as much in advertising,” Kamen said. “It’s a negative from a public relations perspective and from an advertising perspective.”

The New York Times was the last area newspaper to charge for content through a program called Times Select, which locked down columns and editorials, but not most news stories.

Cablevision has grappled with how to turn around Newsday since it bought the Melville daily for $650 million in mid-2008. The company on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter loss of $321 million, blaming the results on a $402 million write-down related to Newsday and a $41 million charge tied to shutting down its VOOM HD network.

16 comments

So long as Newsday subscribers or Cablevision subscribers don’t have to pay extra for Newsday’s online content, it’s not a bad idea. But generally, I don’t pay for anything online, and I imagine most people won’t either.

hello my name is natasha capp and i am very unhappy right now because my parents dont order newsday so now i am unable to do my project and it is really pissing me off and i am really tired and cant waite for the weekend because i am so exhauset and i have so much other homework that i could be doing and getting doneeeeeeeeee RIGHT NOW LOLOLOLOLO>LOLOLOLOL

News 12 as the reason to keep Cablevision?? HA HA….i think most people on LI are in the same boat…as soon as FIOS becomes readily available they will switch. My friend has it and it is just a better service (no channel freeze ups or cut off program descriptions). Can they really call it “News” 12 when their stories are usually a week old. Tune into News 12 for a cheap continuous loop of outdated stories. Cablevision..your time is coming…the monopoly is going away!!! and you will have to answer for your horrible service. How happy are most of us on LI going to be when we can just tell Cablevision to suck it.

Jonas (above) really got it right. There is less orginal content in Newsday than ever. I’ve been a reader of Newsday for at least 30 years. Now I notice that the articles look familiar, because I already read the same AP story on Yahoo news (which is set up to my liking). The local writers, like Lou Dolinar (tech), were put out to pasture in favor of someone from the Tribune syndicate, and now who knows where. There is some local news content, but the total package is slim. Every morning I look at it (plus free copy of AM New York) and wonder if it’s worth continuing.
But I always enjoyed the Dolans’ fireworks display in Oyster Bay on July 4th.

Must compliment LIBN for their quick and accurate reporting.
And was first a ‘free’ subscriber to the email edition; then became a paid subscriber to the print edition. And only did that because the ‘on-line’ version was accurate, fast etc.

A couple weeks ago went to pay my Cablevision bill; and asked how much it will be going up; now that my 3-3-3’s year is up.
I made a comment after hearing 50%; that I hate to have to support the Knicks; who seem so woefully mismanaged the last years. Funny; the Cablevision employee said “so do I”.

As for online papers; LIBN gives me more “local stuff” than anyone.

I like a couple others subscribe to several free online ‘papers’. The best seems to be Mc Clatchy. They have 30 some papers in cities around the USA. I got turned on to them Thanks to Ms. Palin from Alaska. Mc Clatchy had what seemed to be the most down-home version of all that drama.
But they have links to twenty some blogs; covering both the right and the left, and much in between.

What I find interesting about Cablevisions “Homepage” is that the ‘news 12 /Newsday ” NEWS ” is sometimes a month or two old; and never updated. And headlines appear two to three days after the fact.

Wonder what the problem with Newsday might be? Other news organizations seem to be expanding their so-called “free” services, Mc Clatchy is. Is it management or philosophy that is the problem?

I stopped buying the paper everyday when they raised the price by 50%. I will gladly stop reading it online too.
Get a reality check dolans. Times are tough,we have helped you buy teams , newspapers & expand beyond your wildest dreams.. and yet you never show long islanders an ounce of respect… Maybe you could help us through the tough times, some people will need access to the classifieds, the web and the news. Maybe you could be just a little piece of the solution instead of giving us another hit when we can afford it the least. This is really a time when you could stand up and shine to support the people who helped to build your Long island based business…..I am ashamed for you to find another way to squeeze us for more money right now.

Newsday started to go downhill when it stopped using Long Island writers to write stories about Long Island. Instead, we got wire service stories, stories that had appeared in other Tribune papers, etc., instead of Long Island-based reporters covering local, national, and even international events.

The Dolans are just running the paper into the ground, a process started by Sam Zell. I pick up Long Island Press more often these days because at least I know there will be stories about LI, and they still embrace the notion of newspaper as guardian of our collective conscience, not just some giant corporate media outlet no better than any other member of the corporate oligarchy that rules this country.

David,
In this economy, nobody wants to see people out of work. But this newspaper has gone downhill over the years. It’s gotten especially worse over the past year. Newsday is it’s own worst enemy. Newsday used to be Long Island’s newspaper. I’m not sure what it is now. Years ago, Newsday reported NEWS ARTICLES not articles of OPINIONS. Now it costs 75 cents to buy(on Long Island) and 50 cents to buy in NYC. Why is that?

If you want Newsday to continue to exist, the owners need to listen to it’s readers. Fair and balanced reporting is important. Long Islanders who wish to read the paper should be given the opportunity to do so. People who are out of work might need to access Newsday’s Help Wanted Ads via the Internet at a local public library in order to job hunt. They won’t have the extra cash to pay. It’s just not fair.

Bad idea, Newsday. Bad idea. The paper will see it’s demise very quickly if they go through with their “pay to access” plans. Newsday needs an overhaul. And now.

For me, buying Newsday is a waste of money. There are more ads in the paper than there is news. It’s politcally biased to the left and reporting is rarely “fair and balanced.” To pay seventy five cents an issue is not even an option for me. I’d rather save my hard earned money. And — To pay to read it on line? I will NEVER do that. And I predict that this plan will be the demise of Newsday. RIP Newsday– You used to be a worthwhile paper to read.

Let Newsday do it , the sooner this paper dies the better ! It’s become a platform for Illegal Aliens and their Amnesty cause ! And as for Cablevision with their editorials , well when Verizon arrives I’m their customer the next day !